Mason County Daily News

Shelton School Superintendent Hosts Focus Group Shelton School Superintendent Wayne Massie is determined to get the parents point of view on educating their children, so he’s hosting a focus group. Massie says, “This focus group will be at the Mt. View Elementary in the school library, on Thursday evening, 6:30 to 7:30pm”. Read the Full Story

Artwork on Display New artwork is on display at the Shelton Civic Center Rotating Art Gallery. The gallery space is located in the main room of the civic center on the wall between the municipal court room and police department entrances. Viewing is allowed during regular business hours, Monday through Friday. The Read the Full Story

Flood Warnings For Handful Of WA Rivers The National Weather Service has issued flood warnings for the Tolt, Snoqualmie, Puyallup, Pilchuck and Stillaguamish rivers because of heavy rain and melting snow in the Cascades. Read the Full Story

Running Start Information Olympic College will host the Running Start Information Night from 6 p.m. to 7 p.m. Thursday, March 15, 2012 at Olympic College’s Bremer Student Center in Bremerton. The event is open to all high school students and their parents and guardians. Running Start students can earn up to two years of Read the Full Story

National

Regional News Feb 22

Valentine’s Business Review
Local marketing firm McCarty and Associates says business in Shelton was up this past Valentine’s Day when compared to the previous year. Full Story

PSE Awards Cities

Puget Sound Energy is awarding the cities of Olympia and Lacey $30,000 for helping sign up more than 500 people for its green-power program in 2011. The money, $20,000 for Olympia and $10,000 for... Full Story

Mason County Commission Meeting Feb 21

Commissioner Lynda Ring Erickson read a letter from Cheryl Cathcart, Executive Director of Turning Point Domestic Violence Services. Ms Cathcart outlined a bit of history, results, changes... Full Story

Commissioner Meeting Feb 21

Patti Kleist, Executive Director of Faith and Action was present when the County Commission heard a continuation of a public hearing held on February 7, 2012 to consider authorizing the Director... Full Story

Latest Sports

Seattle manager Eric Wedge says he will begin the season having Chone Figgins bat leadoff and hit Ichiro Suzuki third in the Mariners batting order. Wedge made the announcement yesterday. It will be the first time in his career that Suzuki will not bat...

San Antonio extended the NBA's longest winning streak but failed to make up ground on Western Conference leader Oklahoma City. The second-place Spurs beat the Utah Jazz 106-102 for their 11th-straight win, and the Thunder maintained their two-game cushion...

E.J. Singler scored 10 consecutive points in the final six minutes, including a go-ahead 3-pointer with 2:45 remaining, and Oregon held on to beat Stanford 68-64 last night. Singler finished with 20 points, five rebounds and three assists while Olu Ashaolu...

Environment & Recreation

Last Saturday 33 four- to 15-year-old kids braved the February cold to search for native plants and wildlife just a few blocks from their homes in Mt. Vernon, Wash. Starting from North 26th Street and Kulshan Avenue, they hiked a mile down the Kulshan...

The western hemlock, along with the western redcedar, is a dominant tree species in the wet forests of the Olympic Peninsula and Willapa Hills. While western hemlock is typically the most abundant tree species in many stands, it tends to be shortlived...

State Parks Commission will consider transfer of Fort Worden to public development authority

At its regular meeting on Thursday, the Washington State Parks and Recreation Commission will consider a resolution that establishes the conditions...

Latest Blog Posts

Gardening During February

posted Feb 21

2012 Gardening Workshop: Frugal Gardening
All day class. Join WSU MG Dave Shephard to learn effective and efficient uses of resources in gardening. Topics include planning, preparation, planting, protecting, production, container gardening and feasting.
For more information – see the FLYER

The annual Mason County Master Gardener Plant Sale will be Friday and...

from Mason County Master Gardeners

The Green File: Like It Or Not We're in the Winter Doldrums

Okay, the Super Bowl is over and the New York Giants won. Now what? The Green File is officially going through pigskin withdrawal. It happens this time each year. Basketball, hockey and lingerie football just don't cut it as far as I'm concerned.

There's a bland two-month period between the time the curtain comes down on football and the...

from The Green File with Jeff Green

A Leap Of Faith?

Posted Feb 19

So, what are you going to do with your extra day?

Dreams of songwriters describe many "if only" options over the airwaves. Poetic lyrics old and new, lilt their hymns for me and you. Lacking such noble talents, I tend to troll the depths of "the rough" to come up with considerably less altruistic or...

from Out Of The Rough

State of Washington Sales and Use Taxes

Posted Feb 15

If your company is registered with the State of WA’s Department of Revenue to be a “reseller”, it’s extremely important to distinguish between purchases your business makes with the intention of reselling them, versus purchases your business intends to utilize in your business. If you intend to utilize the purchase in your business, for example a...

from The Weekly Ledger

Public Notices

Thurston County Boundary Review Board Feb 28

At 7:00 p.m. Meeting is at the Thurston County Courthouse Building #1, Room 280, 2000 Lakeridge Dr. SW, Olympia, WA 98502
For information contact: Cami Petersen, Chief Clerk, Thurston County Boundary Review Board, 754-3355 ext. 6348

from Public Notices

Mid-Session Update from Fred Finn, State Representative, 35th Legislative District

We are a little over two weeks away from the end of our regular session in the legislature, and I wish to provide you a status report on where we are, and where we are going.

Our most important jobs are to fully fund basic education and balance our budget. How to accomplish these goals is not all the...

from Public Notices

Meeting for HUB Center March 6

Come learn more about the planned HUB Center for Seniors and be part of the public information and comment process required for the USDA on March 6, 6:30 p.m. Timberland Library Belfair.

For more information on the Center, or how to donate to the cause, call Patti at: 275-0535

from Public Notices

North Mason Community Voice Meeting Feb 27

Sheriff Casey Salisbury and several other people from the Mason County Sheriff's Office will be the guest speakers, discussing a variety of public safety issues that are of importance to the North Mason community.
Regular meetings of the VOICE are the fourth Monday of each month 7:00-8:30pm at the Belfair Masonic Lodge (23341 NE SR3).

from Public Notices

Public Meeting: Washington Center Siding Repair Project Feb 27

The City of Olympia and the Washington Center for Performing Arts is hosting a public meeting to discuss the Siding Repair Project. The purpose of the meeting will be to identify and prioritize issues related to the project. This is a chance for the public to share their ideas regarding the appearance of the Center.

from Public Notices

Arts Commission Special Meeting Feb 22

A special meeting of the Olympia Arts Commission will be held on Wednesday, February 22, 2012 at 5pm, for review and approval of recommendations for the Percival Plinth Project and People's Prize. The meeting will be held at Olympia City Hall, 601 4th Ave E, Room 112. For more information contact Stephanie Johnson, Arts & Events Manager, at 360/709-2678.

from Public Notices

2012 Dirty Dozen list of Tax Scams and Phishing Attempts

The IRS is reminding taxpayers to use caution during this tax season to protect themselves against a wide range of schemes ranging from identity theft to return preparer fraud. The our 2012 Dirty Dozen list of tax scams and phishing attempts,is compiled by the IRS each year, but many of these schemes peak during filing season as people prepare their...

from Public Notices

N.Thurston Board Of Directors Meeting Feb 22

North Thurston Public Schools Board Of Directors Meeting. Wednesday, February 22, 2012. 7:00 p.m. – Lakes Elementary School Gymnasium

from Public Notices

Schafer State Park Meeting Feb 23

State Parks holds public information meeting on necessary tree work at Schafer State Park.
The Washington State Parks and Recreation Commission announces a public meeting Feb. 23, to discuss forest-health issues at Schafer State Park and to seek public comment on proposed treatments to deal with tree diseases in specific areas of the park. The meeting will run from 6:30...

from Public Notices

First meeting of Forest Health Technical Advisory Committee Feb 27

Committee begins process to recommend treatments on health of forests
OLYMPIA – The first meeting of the Forest Health Technical Advisory Committee, appointed by Commissioner of Public Lands Peter Goldmark, will take place on February 27. Responding to worsening forest health conditions, the committee will advise the Commissioner on areas of potential geographic priority and potential remedies and actions. Between...

from Public Notices

Career & Technical Education

It’s hard to believe, but employers across the state will tell you: we have jobs, but not the people to fill them.
A skills gap is garnering both national and local attention. Mason County’s unemployment rate remains higher than the state’s average, yet recently almost one-fifth of area employers trying to fill jobs couldn’t find qualified applicants. Sadly, some positions...

from Citizen Editorial

UNACCEPTABLE and UNFORGIVABLE

The Belfair Waste Water Reclamation System (Belfair Sewer) cost has doubled from $26.4 million in 2007 to roughly $48 million and growing daily. This is a very small sewer system with only about 220 Phase 1 hook ups and 3 more planned phases with fewer hook ups. With about a 100% cost over over run to date, with a heavy...

from Citizen Editorial

REACTION~2/1/12

“Presidential Primary Storm Heading This Way.”
Washington voters are often overlooked every four years in the presidential primary/caucus storm for one of two simple reason. Either, because by early March after 11 other primaries it may be expected that both parties have narrowed their choices down to one each, or because its proximity to “Super-Tuesday” on which ten states...

from Citizen Editorial